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Searching for the Historical Truth in African and American Indian Relationships

Brenda Austin

12/10/12

Tiya Miles has a passion for learning about how what happened in America’s early history still affects society, in particular the interactions between African and American Indian peoples.

She is a professor of American culture, history, women’s studies and Native American studies at the University of Michigan and chair of the Afroamerican and African Studies Department, and in fall 2011 she was awarded one of the so-called Genius Grants from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. She and 21 other people received $500,000 over five years to be used however each “genius” sees fit, with no strings attached.

In her own life, Miles straddles the two worlds that fascinate her: She is an African American married to an American Indian—Joseph Gone, a citizen of the Gros Ventre tribal nation of Montana. Together they have three young children—twin girls and a young son. She says that her family has a story passed down through generations about having Native American ancestry, but she recognizes the limitations of that. “My personal feeling is that having Native American ancestry is a very different thing from actually being Native American. I think that having ancestry means there might be somebody in your family tree who was in a Native family and community and who practiced the cultural ways and spoke the language of that community.… In my mind, being Native American would mean something that is much more present and all encompassing in that person’s life in the present.” She emphasizes that she is not claiming to be Indian, and says it’s pretty common among African Americans to find an oral history of Native American ancestry or kinship that can’t quite be pinned down.

Two things led to her interest in African American and Native American histories. The first was the seed planted as a child listening to stories about her family’s Native American ancestry.

The second thing was meeting her husband in college. “I found myself thrust into a different kind of world,” she recalls. “In college I wasn’t really aware of Native issues. I started going to meetings with him and realized that African-American experiences and problems were not the center of the world. I was doing black studies and was the co-editor of the black literary magazine on campus and participated in all the black groups—that was my life. When I thought of things like racism, social justice and equity I [only] thought of the black experience.

“Once I learned in graduate school that some Native Americans had owned slaves, I really wanted to research it, because I wanted to prove that wrong.” She assumed back then that Native Americans were supporters of black slaves and gave them a safe haven. “I had the naïve belief that people of color would have all joined together and fought white supremacy,” she says. But through her research she found that in the 1700 and 1800s there wasn’t that sense of “people of color,” or even the sense of “Native American.” “Everybody was in their own group, within their own nation. It would not have been natural at all for them to think, Let’s build a coalition [with blacks] and fight these other people who are white because we are all alike.

They weren’t alike in many ways—African Americans had their family and cultural history in Africa and they were newcomers to North America, as were Europeans.

“I want to write a history of early Detroit that puts Native Americans and African Americans at the center, and tries to think about how the city developed from a perspective that isn’t Eurocentric. I’m guessing that when people think about Detroit and black history they think about Motown and urban unrest, and when they think about the Native history of Detroit they probably think about Pontiac’s rebellion. That was a long time ago—in 1763. I think it’s important for people to see that when Detroit officially became a town in 1802, it was in an Indian place.”

She wants to explore what it meant to have a Native area that ended up becoming a critical metropolis in the United States, and says slavery was an aspect of Detroit’s culture from the beginning of its history. “One of the things that really caught my attention in Detroit is that this was not a situation like in the South, where we had Native slaveholders and black slaves… [in Detroit] there were both black and Native slaves.”

Down the road, Miles says she would also like to research black and Native relationships in Montana. “That is going to be a different and difficult story that is going to be painful in its own way. In the American South we are talking about Native slaveholders and black slaves. But in the West we are really talking about black buffalo soldiers having the job of policing and confining Native people.”

In addition to her research and professorial duties, she is also dedicated to making a difference in the lives of local youth. In 2011, Miles founded a project in Southeast Michigan she calls ECO Girls—or Environmental and Cultural Opportunities for Girls. The program focuses on environmental education and exploration by drawing on diverse cultural understandings and simultaneously works to foster self-confidence and friendships among diverse participants. She said twice a month the girls gather to do such things as hear traditional stories about nature, pick apples or take a walk on a forest trail. The group is for girls in second through seventh grades and focuses on five themes close to Miles’s heart—ecological literacy, water, food, energy and sustainability.

Although she spends a lot of her time focusing on the past, she is a big presence in the here and now.

For more information about Miles, her current projects, publications or the ECO Girls, visit the University of Michigan website here.

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Interesting....things changed dramatically on racial understandings after the civil war (even our history books etc. had a confederate bias).
If as scholar Diop believed, Egyptians were originally Black, do lighter pigmented Jews blame the entire Black race for their slavery? Of course they do not...they think in terms of Egyptians, not black people.
So why such an archaic belief or view or "white people"?
I grew up in a racially segregated area of the country.
I always thought I was white....I mean I think I am?
Even though my mothers side came to Gaspe in the early 1600's....so I have always suspected things.
When I was a young boy I was very dark...black really (both my younger sister and I).
People would call us the "N" word and did not want us to swim in the pool.
I remember my grandma believing that if we stayed out of the sun, we would not darken up so much.
Things I will never forget.
My native side of the family loves Obama, even though he is a dangerous person (just look at his drone warfare, siding with Muslim brotherhood).....just because they think the "blankets" he offers are from a black man (tell me more lies).
I am tired of race, I am tired of people using race as a means of profiting, and politicking and using it as a excuse to be irresponsible.

Also I read a few years ago a mitochondrial study from the U of CA in which they found that not all American Indians crossed the land bridge....that some of the tribes were actually from Eastern European and Mediterranean decent...so maybe Dr. Cyrus Gordon was correct after all, about the ancient Hebrew traders?
At any rate, we are all connected in some way.
If only my eye color was different.

Also I know you won't publish my writing...but I send them to you mostly to encourage your study.
They have an interesting article on 1 drop rule, which incidentally was a way to also determine who was an Indian child from mixed ascendency.
Tribes often don't view their own racial biases, as a result of racial determinations of what they hate. Its self consuming, self hatred.

Curious of what was behind Ms.Austin's use of quotes(" " ) around the terminology of 'genius'--esp.in the case of Ms.Mile. If this were some blonde haired, blue-eyed person that was a recipient of this award, and offered the EXACT same paper/ article, would Ms.Austin have been so inclined to express the same sentiment? It kind of reminds of a recent story of actor, Johnny Depp, receiving an 'open-arm' welcome by the tribe , when he claimed to share some of their ancestry. However, I've notice whenever there is an African-American involved, there seems to be some resistance , skepticism, or flat-out "calling out" of black people.

Thank you for all your hard work!!! Although I have native ancestors and love the culture I never thought about the aspect of not living the culture to except the title of a Native American!!! :) So true and I apologize to any that i may have offended in my eagerness and ignorance!!! Blessings and best wishes from the Flathead Valley, Montana <3

This is where this author will have her eyes open to the history between Indians and Muks (Ojibwa for Black people). She wil find a whole different perspective on this quest for her academic and personal life. The Buffalo Soldier's were notorious in their behavior with Lakota women in the Dakota's. This day the Lakota still remember this part of history with Blacks. As well other tribal nations remember the behavior of the Buffalo Soldiers toward the Western Tribal Nations. Let's hope she is prepared to hear the truth on this subject. All of the Black Community needs to know this.
WisGriz

This is where this author will have her eyes open to the history between Indians and Muks (Ojibwa for Black people). She wil find a whole different perspective on this quest for her academic and personal life. The Buffalo Soldier's were notorious in their behavior with Lakota women in the Dakota's. This day the Lakota still remember this part of history with Blacks. As well other tribal nations remember the behavior of the Buffalo Soldiers toward the Western Tribal Nations. Let's hope she is prepared to hear the truth on this subject. All of the Black Community needs to know this.
WisGriz

The 5 Civilized Tribes in Oklahoma participated in slavery and I wouldn't be surprised if other tribes did so too. But please don't generalize that all tribes did this, slavery is not a Native value. Also, I didn't read anything in this article about the run away African slaves that were adopted into tribes and some made bundle keepers, keep digging. xoxo

Anonymous, I was really with you until you made the remark about Obama. Whoever you believe, don't believe, or disagree with, it is rude and insensitive to say that he's a dangerous person. Don't scandalize him, pray for him and other politicians.